User Fee Programs May Offer Byways
Income Opportunity
In Utah, two fee demonstration programs involve toll booths and drop tubes on byways on state highways moving through federal lands. Collectively those programs produced one million dollars ($400,000 and $600,000) in fee revenue in one year. In one instance the Forest Service used some of the funding for capital improvements on the byway in addition to covering staff and vehicle and other agency costs.
Byway organizations could have access to user fee funding generated in their areas as provided for by federal legislation.
Who/What:
Under federal legislation, fees charged to users of such facilities as campgrounds, rental cabins, high-impact recreation areas and day-use areas at participating sites are a way for those who visit public lands to share in the cost of maintaining those lands and the programs offered there for future use. This process is often called user-generated cost recovery. The support of user groups willing to pay a fee linked to byways as demonstrated by a trial program would strengthen the case for a byway-related fee program.
The Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act, created in federal legislation under Section J of HR 4818, authorizes Recreational Fee Programs for a ten-year period and allows qualified sites to retain at least 80 percent of fees collected on-site to support site improvements that will enhance the visitor experiences there. The U.S. Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, Bureau of Reclamation, National Park Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service are directed in the legislation to establish agency-specific fee programs. The provision also establishes a new national America the Beautiful Passport and authorizes regional passes that may include entrance and parking at sites operated by state, local and federal agencies not subject to this legislation.
To ensure good public involvement in the fee program, the Congress directed the Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management to establish a series of Recreation Resource Advisory Committees with specific representation requirements. In general, the legislation allows a two-tier fee program. The first tier involves sites and units providing important but basic services and facilities. Entrance and parking fees are generally in this category. Additional fees can be levied for specific services such as cave tours and use of facilities such as campsites.
The predecessor of the new Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act was the National Recreation Fee Demonstration Program that began in 1996 as a three-year pilot program. The new 10-year fee authorization legislation, enacted in December 2004, provides guidelines on where recreation fees can be charged and where they cannot be charged.
American Recreation Coalition President Derrick Crandall, speaking at the 1998 Congressional hearing called by the Subcommittee on National Parks and Public Lands to discuss fee demonstration programs, identified federal-non-federal collaboration and partnership opportunities in support of the fee demonstration program. He said “… providing high quality recreation in America will take a number of tools, including encouragement of volunteer efforts, use of funding from ISTEA and other kinds of Federal programs, partnerships with private sectors as concessionaires and special permitees, partnerships with states and local agencies in a wide variety of ways, corporate support through sponsorships and work with non-profit organizations.”
In his presentation to Congress, Mr. Crandall identified five criteria for establishing an effective fee demonstration program:
- fees need to be equitable
- the fee system needs to be efficient
- fees need to be convenient for the recreationist
- the fee system needs to be coherent, flexible and integrated
- the fee revenues need to be returned to benefit the resources, facilities and programs utilized by those paying the bill.
Among the appropriate uses for fee revenues cited by Mr. Crandall were the preservation of lookout towers in Western National Forests and new interpretive services for families visiting National Forests to cut their own Christmas trees.
In a 2002 report titled “Issues and Concerns Related to the USDA Forest Service’s Recreational Fee Demonstration Program,” the purpose for fee revenues is cited as: “Amounts available for expenditure… may only be used for… backlogged repair and maintenance projects (including projects relating to health and safety) and for interpretation, signage, habitat or facility enhancement, resource preservation, annual operation (including fee collection), maintenance, and law enforcement relating to public use (P.L. 104-134, 315(c)3).
When:
Recreation fees are collected at sites at the time of use or may be collected ahead in exchange for a season-long use pass.
Where:
This type of funding applies to federal sites nationwide.
How:
The program allows at least 80 percent of funds raised on sites to be retained for site enhancement. A limit of 15 percent (with some exceptions) of total fees may be used for administration, overhead, and indirect costs of the fee program. In 2000, the Forest Service issued a strategic plan identifying goals and objectives relevant to its fee demonstration program and the resulting revenues as a management tool. Attracting and expanding Forest Service partnerships with non-Forest Service parties is identified on the agency’s agenda.
For information on how a fee demonstration program works in Utah, click here.
Funding Potential:
The funding potential of a fee demonstration program is inherently linked to use of the designated resource. Recreation revenues under the new authority are estimated to be approximately $200 million for Fiscal Year 2006, but could rise.
Resources:
Acknowledgement:
Thanks go to Derrick Crandall, President
of the American Recreation Coalition, for assisting the development
of this case profile.
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